Motor and longitudinally split housing structure for hair clipper



Nov. 18, 1969 J. H. FOX 3,479,540

MOTOR AND LONGITUDINALLY SPLIT HOUSING STRUCTURE FOR HAIR CLIPPER 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 11, 1967 N VE/V TO'Q James H. For

wgwm Nov. 18, 1969 J. H. FOX

MOTOR AND LONGITUDINALLY'SPLIT uousnm STRUCTURE FOR HAIR CLIPPER 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 11, 1967 United States Patent 3,479,540 MOTORAND LONGITUDINALLY SPLIT HOUSING a. STRUCTURE FOR HAIR CLIPPER James H.Fox, Torrance, Calif., assignor to Wahl Clipper Corporation, Sterling,Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Sept. 11, 1967, Ser. No. 666,657Int. Cl. H02k 7/08 US. Cl. 310--50 8 Claims 6 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREA hair clipper having a rotary motor and a housing made of twocomponents abutted and secured to each other has a structure thatutilizes a modified housing for performing plural functions, namely,enclose the motor, establish and maintain the necessary operativerelationship between -parts of the motor, and provide paths formotor-cooling air.

EACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a hair clipperwhich has a houseing enclosing a motor and a transmission mechanism. Thelatter operates to reciprocate in a linear manner a movable cutter blademounted at the front end of the clipper between the housing and astationary comb blade. In conventional constructions, the motor partsare mounted and fixed in operative relationship by a frame structure ofseveral interconnected members, and the over-all motor-frame assembly isplaced within a. housing that properly positions the frame members.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention is an improvement in theconstruction of a hair clipper that avoids the previous requirement of anumber of frame elements united to each other and to various parts ofthe motor. This improvement is accomplished by the use, in accordancewith the present invention, of a specific construction for the housingand motor that provides as an over-all effect the positioning andstability required for components of the motor in a simple constructionthat can reduce the size of the housing and more especially can providea lighter and less expensive hair clipper than conventionallymanufactured heretofore. Other advantages appear below.

The housing of the hair clipper of this invention has a two-piececonstruction. Each of the housing components has specific bosses thatcooperate with complementary bosses of the other housing component toprovide, in the over-all assembly, the geometrical relationship betweenvarious components of the motor that insure the continued operativenessof the motor, in particular the operativeness of the rotor with respectto the stator.

The housing components of the hair clipper of the invention have variousbosses as mentioned above. One of the housing components has bosses thatsupport and position the bearings that rotatably carry the rotor shafton a fixed longitudinal axis while other bosses of that housingcomponent position the stator of the motor. The other housing componenthas hold-down bosses. Some of these latter bosses engage the bearingsmentioned above while others engage the stator when the housingcomponents are secured together. Thus the positioning bosses and thehold-down bosses locate and support the bearings and the stator at thepositions required to maintain the stator and rotor in operativerelationship.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view, partiallybroken away, of the preferred hair clipper of the present invention,showing in broken lines in the part not broken away only those elementsand structures relating to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view, partially broken away, of the hairclipper and likewise showing in broken lines only those components andstructures relating to the invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 1. 7

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view of one of the motor brushes, the brushsupport means, the cooperating support and positioning boss, andhold-down boss, as seen on line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view of the commutator, motor brush, brushsupport means, and bosses as viewed from the right in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view, partly in section, of the rear bearing,the positioning boss, the rotor shaft and a hold-down boss that isintegral with the upper housing component, as viewed on line 6-6 of FIG.1.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view, partly in section, of the components ofFIG. 6 as seen from the right of FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, theclipper generally designated 10 has a top housing component 11 and abottom housing component 12 (FIG. 2) that are secured to each other byscrews 13 extending through a rear tubular boss 14 and a pair offorward, transversely spaced bosses 15 in bottom housing component 12.The screws 13 engage threaded cylindrical recesses 16 in a reardownwardly extending boss 17 and a pair of forward transversely spaceddownwardly extending bosses 18 integral with upper housing component 11.

Housing components 11 and 12 are made of a molded plastic, and includeaforesaid bosses 14, 15, 17 and 18, and other bosses to be mentionedlater. The molded housing components 11 and 12 preferably are formed ofa plastic material that is electrically non-conductive, substantiallyrigid, and resistant to breakage in normal use. A preferred plastic is apolycarbonate resin such as Lexan manufactured by General ElectricCompany, Schenectady, N.Y. These resins have been described asthermoplastic carbonate-linked polymers produced by reacting bisphenol Aand phosgene.

A motor generally designated 20 includes a stator 21, a rotor 22 (FIGS.1 and 3) and a rotor shaft 23 on which the rotor is mounted in fixedmanner. Shaft 23 is rotatably mounted in a front bearing 24 and a rearbearing 25. A fan 26 is fixedly mounted on shaft 23 between rotor 22 andbearing 25. A commutator 27 (FIGS. 1 and 5) is fixedly mounted on shaft23 and engaged by a pair of opposed carbon brushes 28 (only one of whichis shown in FIG. 1) biased against commutator 27 in conventional mannerby conducting springs 29 which provide contact with wires 30. The latterare connected to stator 21 which is connected by wires 30' to knurledposts 31 and 32. As seen in FIG. 2 for post 32, posts 31 and 32 arereceived in recesses 33 in bosses 35 and 36 of bottom housing component12. Post 32 is part of a switch generally indicated 34 having a post 37similarly mounted. Wires 38 are connected to posts 31 and 37 and theyextend through a strain relief 39 to a plug (not shown).

The hair clipper 10 of the preferred embodiment has a gear speedreducer, a cam, a cam follower having a blade-engaging finger and aguide member for the cam follower (all not shown). The cam follower isbiased by springs 40 which establish a cutting relationship betweenmovable cutter blade 41 and fixed comb blade 42. The invention of thisarrangement is disclosed and claimed in US. patent application Ser. No.666,656 entitled Transmission for Electric Hair Clipper being filed withthe subject patent application. The preferred embodiment also includesthe invention disclosed and claimed in US. patent application Ser. No.626,826, filed on Mar. 29, 1967, now US. Patent 3,430,342, and entitledAdjustable Clipper Head. The external adjusting actuating leverdisclosed therein is lever 43 in FIG. 1 of the instant application. Theblade-engaging finger and the relationship thereof with cutter blade 41are generally those described and claimed in US. Patent No. 2,876,538.

The bottom or base wall 50 of bottom housing component 12 has a numberof transversely spaced longitudinally extending slots 51 (FIG. 1) ineffective relation with hearing 24, and has similar slots 52 and 53adjacent the forward portion of stator 21 and rearwardly of hearing 25,respectively. Fan 26 draws air in through slots 51 and 52 and dischargesit from slots 53, thereby cooling the motor. A transverse wall 55forwardy of front bearing 24 extends from bottom wall 50 and side walls56 of bottom housing component 12.

Stator 21 is spaced from the walls of housing components 11 and 12 inthe manner described-later so that air from slots 51 and 52 can flowaround stator 21. The air flowing around and above bearing 24 isdirected rearwardly at higher elevation primarily by barriers of lowerelevation, namely, brush positioning bosses generally designated 60,each extending upwardly from bottom wall 50 and inwardly from side walls56 of bottom housing component 12.

Brush positioning bosses 60 have a pair of longitudinally spaced walls61 (FIG. 4) and a wall 62 between them of lesser height to provide asupport for one end of a brush support means 63, the latter being agenerally square tube. The other end of brush support means 63 rests ona shoulder 64 (FIG. provided by a thickened portion of wall 56 betweenspaced walls 61. Thus this thickened portion of wall 56 constitutes withits shoulder 64 a part of positioning boss 60.

Motor stator 21 is supported on a pair of positioning bosses 66 whichare longitudinally spaced ribs that extend transversely across bottomwall 50 and partially up walls 56. The central portion of each rib 66has a recess 67 to provide clearance for a strap (not shown) associatedwith stator 21. A finger 68 extends inwardly from each wall 56 in frontof front boss 66 and a finger 69 extends inwardly from each wall 56behind rear boss 66. The inward extension of fingers 68 and 69 isgreater than that of bosses 66 whereby the fingers prevent longitudinalmovement of stator 21.

The top housing component has an integral fan shroud 70 comprising atransverse wall radially outwardly of fan 26. Shroud 70 extends inwardlyso that its free edge is close to the extremities of the blades of fan26. Bafiles 71 on side Walls 56 at the transverse plane of rear bearing25 are provided to direct air flow in effective relation with bearing25.

The construction described above insures air flow around bearings 24 and25 and around and through stator 21 to provide a cool and more efficienthair clipper during use.

Each of bearings 24 and 25 is supported on a positioning boss 73, bestshown in FIGS. 6 and 7, that extends upwardly from wall 50 of bottomhousing component 12. Each boss 73 has a top recess provided by a pairof transversely spaced fingers 74 having opposed surfaces that aregenerally spherical segments with a common center. Each of the hold-downbosses generally indicated 75 for bearings 24 and 25 comprises a pair offingers 75' that are transversely spaced and extend downwardly from topwall 76 of top housing component 11. The fingers 75 engage the tops ofbearings 24 and 25. The fingers 75 of hold-down bosses 75 are moreflexible than fingers 74 of positioning bosses 73.

The distal ends of fingers 75 of each pair have opposed beveled surfacesthat are upwardly converging, and these ends are arcuate with theircenters of curvature above these ends. Each of the bearings 24 and 25has an outer surface with margins 77 of generally hemisphericalconfiguration and a central position 78 of cylindrical configuration. Aswill be understood, the configurations of each bearing and itscounterpart positioning and holddown bosses cooperate to provide auniversal or selfaligning mounting for bearings 24 and 25 on and withinhousing 10.

The stator 21 is held in its position on positioning bosses 66 byhold-down means suchfor example as a pair of hold-down bosses 80 and 81(FIG. 3) that are transversely spaced and that extend downwardly fromtop wall 76 of housing component 11 to engage generally cylindricalsurface portions at transversely spaced areas on the top part of thesides of stator 21.

The support means 63 for each brush 28 is engaged by contact of its topcorner edges with hold-down bosses 83 (FIG. 4) and 84. Each of bosses 83and 84 extends downwardly from wall 76 of top housing component 11 andhas at its distal end a pair of longitudinally spaced fingers 85 thatare beveled at their facing edges. The beveled edges engage the corneredges of brush support means 63 as best shown, in FIG. 4.

The hair clipper of the preferred embodiment has many obviousadvantages. The clipper of the invention in its broadest aspect has theadvantage of utilizing a pair of complementary housing components thatinclude positioning and hold-down bosses that are unitary with thehousing components. Although molding of such. housing components can bemade only within reasonable dimensional tolerances, such limitationssuffice because of the cooperation of the bosses and the motor partssupported and positioned thereby.

From the above description it is thought that the construction and otheradvantages of this invention will be readily apparent to those skilledin the art. Various changes in detail may be made without departing fromthe spirit or losing the advantages of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a hair clipper having a movable cutter blade, a stationary combblade, a motor means to operate said cutter blade including a stator,front and rear bearings, a shaft rotatably mounted in said bearings, anda rotor fixedly mounted on said shaft, and a housing enclosing saidmotor means and having two opposed components abutting each other andsecured together, the improvement comprising a construction for thehousing components wherein one of said housing components haspositioning bosses supporting said bearings and said stator, each ofsaid positioning bosses for said bearings comprising an upwardlyextending boss having a top recess providing a pair of upwardlyextending transversely spaced fingers with upwardly diverging arcuateopposed wall surfaces, and the other of said housing components hasholddown bosses engaging said bearings and hold-down means engaging saidstator to locate and support said bearings and said stator to maintainsaid stator and said rotor in operative relationship, each of saidhold-down bosses that engages one of said bearings comprising a pair ofdownwardly extending, transversely spaced fingers engaging the top ofsaid bearing, said bearing hold-down bosses of different flexibilitythan said bearing positioning bosses.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein each of said pairs of fingers ofsaid positioning bosses for said bearings has opposed surfaces that arearcuate about a common center of curvature, wherein each pair ofdownwardly extending fingers in said other housing component is beveledat the distal ends to provide a spaced pair of upwardly convergingopposed top surfaces and is arcuate at said distal ends with theircenters of curvature in a transverse plane above said distal ends, andwherein the outer surface of each bearing has margins of hemisphericalconfiguration and a central portion of cylindrical configuration,whereby said bearings, said positioning bosses and said downwardlyextending pairs of fingers cooperate to provide a universal mounting ofthe hearings on and within the housing.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said positioning bosses for saidstator on said one housing component comprise a pair of longitudinallyspaced ribs extending inwardly from the bottom and side walls to supportsaid stator in spaced relation with the bottom and side walls at twotransverse planes and wherein said hold-down means for said stator insaid other housing component comprise a pair of transversely spacedbosses that extend downwardly from the inside surface of the top wall ofsaid other housing component to engage the top portion of said stator attransversely spaced areas of contact.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein said transversely spaceddownwardly extending pair of bosses engaging the top portion of thestator extend longitudinally between the transverse planes of supportprovided by said longitudinally spaced ribs in said one housingcomponent and wherein the distal ends of said pair of transverselyspaced bosses engaging the stator are beveled to provide longitudinal,opposed surfaces converging upwardly and the surface of the statorengaged by the beveled surfaces is a surface of a longitudinallyextending cylindrical section.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein said one housing component has apair of inwardly extending fingers on opposite sides of said pair ofribs on each side wall supporting said stator to limit longitudinalmovement of said stator.

6. The combination of claim 3 wherein each of said transversely spacedbosses extending downwardly from said other housing component to engagesaid stator has flexibility in a transverse direction.

7. The combination of claim 3 wherein said motor means includes acommutator fixedly mounted on said shaft, a pair of carbon brushes and apair of transversely disposed support means for said carbon brushes toplace said brushes in contact with diametrically opposite sides of saidcommutator and wherein one of said housing components has a pair ofpositioning bosses for said brush means and the other of said housingcomponents has hold-down bosses engaging said support means to maintainsaid support means and said brushes in transverse alignment with respectto each other and to said commutator.

8. The combination of claim 7 wherein each of said positioning bossesfor said brush support means comprises a pair of longitudinally spacedfingers extending from the bottom wall and a side wall of said onehousing component and a finger extending upwardly from said bottom wallto a lesser height to provide a transversely extending support slot,wherein each of said brush support means comprises a square hollow tubein each slot, and wherein said hold-down bosses in said other housingcomponent for said support means comprise a pair of transversely spacedfingers engaging one of said square tubes, said tube-engaging fingerseach having in the distal end a slot to provide a pair of prongsengaging said square tubes.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,294,713 9/1942 Boerger 30210 X2,319,194 5/1943 Youhouse 310- 3,119,942 1/1964 Luther 31050 3,121,8132/1964 Pratt et al. 310-50 3,315,356 4/1967 Swanke et al. 302723,313,964 4/1967 Mattson et al. 310239 X WARREN E. RAY, Primary ExaminerU.S. Cl. X.R. 31052, 89, 90

